British Steel is taking part in a GBP 1.4 million research project to increase the utilization of some of waste material for the sustainable manufacture of cement. Researchers from The University of Sheffield Department of Materials Science and Engineering are developing processes and technologies for incorporating unprecedented amounts of iron-rich by-products from the steel industry and utilizing them in cement processing. The cement industry worldwide is currently responsible for around 8% of global CO2 emissions. Cement processing uses a significant amount of calcium in the form of limestone. When these chalky materials are processed, almost half of the mass is released as CO2. If this bulk material could be substituted for an alternative, this could significantly reduce cement’s environmental impact.The research project will also look at the possible beneficial aspects of other elements, like zinc, in cement manufacture. Starting in June 2022, the project will be named ‘FeRICH: developing iron-rich cement for the valorisation and upcycling of steel slags’. It will assess ways to upcycle the by-products of the steel industry leading to iron-rich resources, and the formulation of final cement and concrete products which can be adopted by the construction industry.Other partners of the FeRICH project are Heidelberg Cement Group Hanson, Flemish Institute of Technology VITO and Institute of Building Materials Research RWTH Aachen University. It has been supported with a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
British Steel is taking part in a GBP 1.4 million research project to increase the utilization of some of waste material for the sustainable manufacture of cement. Researchers from The University of Sheffield Department of Materials Science and Engineering are developing processes and technologies for incorporating unprecedented amounts of iron-rich by-products from the steel industry and utilizing them in cement processing. The cement industry worldwide is currently responsible for around 8% of global CO2 emissions. Cement processing uses a significant amount of calcium in the form of limestone. When these chalky materials are processed, almost half of the mass is released as CO2. If this bulk material could be substituted for an alternative, this could significantly reduce cement’s environmental impact.The research project will also look at the possible beneficial aspects of other elements, like zinc, in cement manufacture. Starting in June 2022, the project will be named ‘FeRICH: developing iron-rich cement for the valorisation and upcycling of steel slags’. It will assess ways to upcycle the by-products of the steel industry leading to iron-rich resources, and the formulation of final cement and concrete products which can be adopted by the construction industry.Other partners of the FeRICH project are Heidelberg Cement Group Hanson, Flemish Institute of Technology VITO and Institute of Building Materials Research RWTH Aachen University. It has been supported with a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
